UN food agency warns 45 million more face hunger if Iran war runs past June
The UN World Food Programme has warned that an additional 45 million people will be pushed into acute food insecurity by June if the US-Israeli war on Iran continues, lifting the global total to 363 million — surpassing the spike after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The agency's 2030 hunger-eradication target is now off course, and the conflict is also redrawing political loyalties and producing economic winners and losers.
The United Nations World Food Programme has warned that the US-Israeli war on Iran is on course to push an additional 45 million people into acute food insecurity or hunger if the conflict is not ended by June, raising the global total to 363 million. That figure, the agency notes, would exceed the spike that followed Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The WFP had set a target of eradicating hunger by 2030; the war has knocked the goal off track.
The collateral damage runs beyond hunger. The conflict is realigning political loyalties around the world, creating new ones, and producing economic winners alongside the much larger group of losers. It may yet, the warning notes, force unexpected shifts in two further arenas — international law and climate policy.
The US-Israel campaign entered its third month in early May with no clear end in sight, and aid agencies have already pressed for a humanitarian corridor through the Strait of Hormuz to ease civilian supply chains. Peace talks remain stalled.
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